Monday, April 5, 2010

Potatoes in a Bucket

We found this old rusty bucket on a recent walk in the woods. I hated to see it laying in the woods and I thought it would make a great bucket for growing potatoes. For several years, I've grown potatoes in the garden using the straw method. But I thought it would be fun to experiment with growing them in a bucket.


It already had a couple of holes in the bottom, but I drilled more to have adequate drainage. I then put several inches of compost and peat moss.


It's always good to have help around the farm. Liam and Hope helped me put 3 eye pieces of All-Blue, Onaway(White), and Caraway(Red) potatoes in the bucket. We then put about 6 inches of wood shavings over the potatoes. You could also use potting soil or straw. I get the wood shavings for free from a saw mill nearby.

When the plants start to emerge, I'll put cover with more wood shavings to keep the tubers covered. If all goes well, I plan to make red, white, and blue potato chips for Fourth of July.

2 comments:

  1. I planted Red and Blue and Yukon Gold Potatoes this year! It is my first try with these varieties. I used the straw method this time too.
    Cool beans! :)
    Hope you get a BOUNTIFUL harvest! :)

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  2. We've been planting potatoes for a few yrs now, and we really like the straw method b/c it keeps the potatoes clean.

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